Vale Foundation > News > Fighting school evasion, “Networked Territories” project is expanded to four municipalities in Minas Gerais

Fighting school evasion, “Networked Territories” project is expanded to four municipalities in Minas Gerais

Espirito Santo

Minas Gerais

Pará

29/11/21

A female hand with orange nail polish is registered in the "Territories in Network" application while a child with a lollipop in his mouth watches the action. — *Project combating school truancy through active search*

The “Networked Territories” project has already reinserted 2,072 children into the educational systems of Marabá (PA) and Serra (ES) and has now been extended to four more municipalities in Minas Gerais: Governador Valadares, Aimorés, Resplendor and Conselheiro Pena. The Vale Foundation’s partnership with the Cidade Escola Aprendiz Association and the municipal education secretariats is designed to identify the main causes of school leavers in each region and create strategies to tackle problems that have become even more challenging during the pandemic.

Some of the objectives of the work include the articulation of governmental and non-governmental sectors to put into practice initiatives that contribute to the social development of the localities, as well as the training of public and social agents to consolidate a permanent public policy. Active searches are carried out in order to identify children and adolescents who are excluded from school, by means of home visits and telephone contacts. There is also monitoring, with registration via application and database.

In the new territories, 2,850 children and teenagers out of school or at risk of school evasion have been identified. Over a period that varies from 22 to 28 months, depending on the region, the team plans the inclusion in schools of a significant percentage of these individuals and offers support in improving public policies for the social protection of people aged between 4 and 17.